1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a speech input guidance method for notifying a user of features that are operational by speech for a speech input device for allowing various types of device operations by speech, and a speech input guidance apparatus for executing this method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As a result of recent diversifying features of various types of devices, a single device can include an extremely wide variety of features and provide a user of the device with great convenience. On the other hand, because it is necessary for a user to select an operation unit which provides a specific feature from many operation units, such as switches, and to operate the operation unit to enter an operation instruction, the difficulty of selecting an operation unit and remembering an order of an operation increases. As a result, the number of devices for setting an order of displayed features from a higher priority on a liquid crystal display, for example, allowing a user to select a displayed feature with a touch panel or a cursor indication of a remote controller, and finally conducting the specific feature is increasing.
For example, a desired destination setting means allows a selection from among various methods, such as finding a specific place while scrolling to display from a wide area map to a zoomed map sequentially, narrowing down sequentially from a state or a prefecture to a specific place, entering a phone number, entering a zip code to show a map for a neighborhood of a specific place and finding the place while scrolling the map, specifying a category of a specific facility, and then specifying an area to search for the facility, selecting from a list of places which were previously set as destinations, visited, or registered, and using alphabet keys for direct entry. Operations are provided on selection screens and scroll screens displayed sequentially for the individual means, the specific place is found, and finally the place is established on a vehicle onboard navigation device.
It is a proper method for operating many features to specify precisely a desired feature from among many features, and to conduct a setting operation for this feature while various selection screens are being shown. However, as features become further diversified and complicated, it becomes ambiguous what operations are to be sequentially conducted for a desired operation, and it is required to repeat various operations for the setting.
Because a user who operates vehicle onboard devices such as a vehicle navigation device or a vehicle audio device is most often a driver, it is required for the user to operate these vehicle onboard devices so that the operation does not affect driving, which the driver should concentrate on most. However, as the different types of devices have included more functions as described above, because it is virtually impossible for a user to select and to operate a desired feature button from many feature buttons, or to conduct an operation for sequentially selecting function menus shown on a screen, the user has to do so while stopped.
As a consequence, it is gradually becoming common to introduce speech recognition technology, which has been researched and developed rapidly in recent years, for providing an instruction by means of speech for different types of operations. With this technology, when the phrase “Nearby Seven-Eleven” is simply uttered while a speech input device is being ON, a navigation device recognizes “nearby”, determines that a search for a specific facility is requested, also determines that a search area should be as close to a current position as possible, and selects a search range so as to search on a guide route as much as possible, and simultaneously in an area ahead of the current position when it is discriminated that this vehicle is traveling along the guide route. The navigation device recognizes a phrase, “Seven-Eleven”, to search by category, selects a convenience store category from different types of categories, and searches for facilities of “Seven-Eleven” in the category. When a search result is obtained, the result is shown on a map on a screen based on position data, and guidance such as “There is a Seven-Eleven on the left side 700 m ahead” is provided by speech if necessary.